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Top 10 Sauropods and Titanosaurs
by Cougarcat Note: This is a Top Ten List, the way the list is arranged is purely opinion. You may not agree with the way the list is organized, however if you made your own than other people would not necessarily agree with your opinion either. So opinion is honored on these lists. Do not duplicate lists, however you can go ahead and make your own about something else. Just remember, you aren't allowed to edit these because the creator may have different opinions than you. Sauropods and Titanosaurs grew to immense sizes, becoming the largest animals ever on land. However, some of these giants stand out from the others, in terms of size, success, and other reasons. Therefore, a list has been assembled on this wiki of the ten that stood out most. So lets begin with number 10... NOTE: THIS LIST WILL BE UPDATED SOON 10th- Apatosaurus (Sauropod) Apatosaurus makes this list not only because it is famous. For a Diplodocid, it is very heavily built. Diplodocus, although longer, would probably not be as heavy. Apatosaurus is also represented by quite a bit of material (Although this tends to be partial). Not only that, Apatosaurus is one of the oldest Diplodocid Sauropods. It was once thought that Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus were the same genus. ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 9th- Bruhathkayosaurus (Titanosaur?) Scoring the Bruhathkayosaurus is really difficult, because the amount of material found is just so abysmal. Apparently by one bone scientists judged that it was far larger than Argentinosaurus. Size estimates put it at an unheard of 220+ metric tonnes, a size never before reached. This would be simply colossal, dwarfing even massive titanosaurs such as Paralatitan (as seen in the picture). However, the storage shed where Bruhathkayosaurus' remains were in was destroyed in a raging monsoon, so what may have been the largest dinosaur was swept away in the flood. Therefore, with no material representing it, no size estimates can be even respected. So therefore, for now it was lucky to make it onto this list. ] ] ] 8th- Patagotitan (Titanosaur) Patagotitan was named in 2017, and sometimes credited as the "Largest Dinosaur Ever". However, Patagotitan is a strong contender for this title. Weighing in at 77 metric tons (85 short tons), the weight of this titanosaur pretty much destroys that of any other. Although Puertasaurus' estimates top 100 tonnes, it is represented by around 1% of the whole animal, so any estimate for that can't be totally confirmed. Because of Patagotitan and a host of other enormous titanosaurs from Patagonia, the region has earned the nickname "Land of Giants". ] ] ] ] ] ] 7th- Brontosaurus (Sauropod) Perhaps "Brontosaurus" is the most legendary name of any dinosaur after Tyrannosaurus rex. However, the reason why Brontosaurus makes this list is because of the huge debate over its existence. Brontosaurus was incorrectly believed to be an Apatosaurus to such a degree that it was no longer considered a valid genus. However, now Scientists know that Brontosaurus was in fact different than Apatosaurus after a 2015 study. ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 6th- Saltasaurus (Titanosaur) Saltasaurus evolved a very interesting defense against predators. Highly specialized dermal armor on this creature protected it from many of the predators of Late Cretaceous South America. Many other South American Titanosaurs are also showing signs of armor, however Saltasaurus has given the best evidence of this. ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 5th- Brachiosaurus (Sauropod) Without any doubt, Brachiosaurus is one of the most famous Sauropods. Most estimates place its size between 30 and 50 tonnes, making it extremely colossal. Because of its iconic long neck, it never had to compete with low-medium level browsers like Apatosaurus or Diplodocus. Jurassic North America had many plant eaters that it would have to compete with, so having this feature would have been an enormous advantage. Quite a few other Sauropods and Titanosaurs had a similar appearance to Brachiosaurus. ] ] ] ] ] ] 4th Argentinosaurus (Titanosaur) There are reasons why Argentinosaurus was chosen for 4th place. With an estimated weight of up to 75 tonnes, it is probably the largest sauropod or titanosaur found to date other than Patagotitan or Puertasaurus. Although not represented as perfectly as Dreadnoughtus, it is still represented by enough material to make good size estimations. It is odd how Titanosaurs from Patagonia grew so large, but this probably had to do with the beginning of flowering plants. These could grow many times larger than an African Elephant (5 metric tonnes). Dreadnoughtus was 12 times as large as an African Elephant, and the very largest Argentinosaurus were up to 15 times as large. African Elephants have to eat 12-18 hours every day, so... Argentinosaurus had to be incredibly efficient to be able to survive. Argentinosaurus was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Largest Land Animal", a title that no other dinosaur has produced sufficient material to take from Argentinosaurus. 3rd- Diplodocus (Sauropod) Diplodocus is debatably the most famous Sauropod of all time. For nearly the entire 20th century, Dinosaur books credited it for being the largest Dinosaur of all time. Although this is far from the case, in fact it weighed very little for its size, this list would still seem quite incomplete without it. It had very interesting specializations and has revealed very much about Sauropods. ] ] ] ] ] ] ] 2nd- Camarasaurus (Sauropod) With an estimated weight of around 30 tonnes, Camarasaurus is colossal. However, surprisingly for something this huge, it was actually very common in Late Jurassic North America. Even more common than Diplodocus or Apatosaurus, dinosaurs often given credit as being the most common large sauropods of Jurassic North America. However, this title actually belongs to the much larger Camarasaurus. Camarasaurus is represented by many specimens, and that is how scientists know that it was so successful. It is interesting that a Sauropod just under the size of Brachiosaurus would be so numerous. This probably has to do with the fact that Camarasaurus could browse from the layer just under that of Brachiosaurus, so it could elude most of the competition. ] ] ] 1st- Dreadnoughtus (Titanosaur) "Dreadnoughtus" means "fears nothing". Honestly, there probably wasn't a lot that Dreadnoughtus feared. At 85 feet long, and weighing about 59 metric tons, Dreadnoughtus was huge. It also came from Patagonia, adding to the whole "Land of Giants" thing, but that is not the major reason why Dreadnoughtus makes it in at 2nd place. Dreadnoughtus is represented by an amazing 45% of the entire animal.Using this, 70 percent of the postcranial skeleton can be reconstructed. The before mentioned Puertasaurus and Bruhathkayosaurus are represented by around 1% and 0% respectively. Therefore, any claims of them being 100 or 240 or 1,000,000,000 tonnes cannot be confirmed. However, the size estimate for Dreadnoughtus can be believed due to the huge amount of material found. Although not much of the neck and none of the head were found, these would not make up most of the mass. It is just incredible that so much could survive. Since animals half Dreadnoughtus' size are generally torn far and wide by scavengers. Other giant Titanosaurs can also be scaled to Dreadnoughtus. Category:Mesozoic Category:Jurassic Category:Jurassic Dinosaur Category:Cretaceous Category:Herbivore Category:Sauropod/Titanosaur Category:Sauropod Category:Titanosaur Category:Terrestrial Category:Top Ten Lists